Unnamed sources...

Hugh Tomlinson at the London Times might be wanting to have a word with some of his "unnamed sources". It would appear that the story, which Ed picked up on yesterday may well have been a deliberate plant.

According to Bloomberg's Glen Carey, the Times' story is a crock.

Saudi Arabia rejects “the violation of its sovereignty and the use of its airspace or territory by anyone to attack any country,” the official Saudi Press Agency said late yesterday, citing an unidentified official at the Foreign Affairs Ministry.

Oh good! Another unnamed source.

It's as if Dimitri Soudas got loose with his Blackberry.

Who knows?

I sure hope not . . .

THE LONDON TIMES has a scary report: "Saudi Arabia gives Israel clear skies to attack Iranian nuclear sites". Oh boy, a big, steaming bowl of Not Good, as it appears that the Sunnis have decided . . . 

Saudi Arabia has conducted tests to stand down its air defences to enable Israeli jets to make a bombing raid on Iran’s nuclear facilities, The Times can reveal.

In the week that the UN Security Council imposed a new round of sanctions on Tehran, defence sources in the Gulf say that Riyadh has agreed to allow Israel to use a narrow corridor of its airspace in the north of the country to shorten the distance for a bombing run on Iran.

Economically and "Morally" Saudi . . . .

Now that the Saudis are being so cooperative on the increased oil production thing, (raise your hand if you think that's gonna happen) perhaps we can get 'em to work on this:

Per The Globe and Mail:

Saudi Arabia arrests alleged gays in raid

Associated Press - June 21, 2008

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — A Saudi newspaper says religious police have arrested 21 allegedly homosexual men and confiscated large amounts of alcohol.













Al-Medina daily says the Commission for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice, which employs the religious police, was told Friday of a large gathering of young men at a rest house in Qatif, in eastern Saudi Arabia.

The paper says scores of men were initially arrested but only 21 remain in detention.

Homosexuality is seen as a sin in Islam and prohibited in Saudi Arabia and most other Muslim nations. In the conservative kingdom, the offence can be punished by flogging or prison.

Of course western nations could pressure the House of Saud to amend some of their more archaic and punitive actions toward alternative lifestyles.

But then there's that oil thing, isn't there?

Guess that Moral Compass gets out of whack when oil supplies start dwindling . . . .

(Cross-posted from Moved to Vancouver)

Running down the clock on Iran

Via Chris Floyd we get a warning that things are definitely coming closer to "the moment" when the Bush administration pulls the pin on Iran.

On Friday, US Vice-President Dick Cheney was in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia knocking back lamb and strawberry juice with his good buddies King Abdullah and Oil Minister Ali al-Nuaimi. The discussions were promoted as being ostensibly about oil, or more precisely, the price of it and how to get it down in a way meaningful enough to calm angry US voters.

There was, however, a shady side to Cheney's visit. (When isn't there a shady side to anything Cheney does?)

Cheney held other discussions. An accompanying aide said, "I can't tell you much about the conversations themselves, these are especially confidential and private conversations."

Especially confidential and private? What are the odds they weren't about the health Abdullah's large stable of horses?

After Cheney's visit the Saudi Sura council suddenly decided that at the top of their agenda should be a discussion about national plans to deal with the radioactive hazards after a possible attack on Iran.

The Saudi Shura council will secretly discuss national plans to deal with any sudden nuclear and radioactive hazards that may affect the kingdom following experts' warnings of possible attacks on Iran's Bushehr nuclear reactors, media reports said Saturday. The Saudi-based King Abdul-Aziz City for Science and Technology has prepared a proposal that encapsulates the probabilities of leaking nuclear and radiation hazards in case of any unexpected nuclear attacks in Iran, the Okaz Saudi newspaper said.

Experts' warnings?! What experts? Someone from Cheney's entourage or perhaps Cheney himself?

Some dots:

1. Admiral William Fallon, who said Iran would never be attacked while he was the commander US Central Command, "resigned".

2. General David Petraeus makes an announcement that the recent attacks on Baghdad's green zone were the work of Iran. He doesn't produce any evidence. He just says he "knows".

3. Cheney visits the Saudis. Media-shy Cheney lets the words "oil" and "money" dominate the purpose of his talks and then goes into Cheney mode. Whatever was discussed is secret.

4. The Saudis go into session to discuss how best to defend against the radioactive fallout after "experts" warn of an impending attack on Iran's nuclear facilities.

5. Republicans are inveterate bombers with less than a year left to lay waste to another country.

Connect them all up.


Hat tip reader Stewart

Friedman gets it right on Iran. That's right. Friedman

I normally view Thomas Friedman as an insufferable wanker who has little more use in this world than that of a life support system for a mustache.

This time out, however, Friedman has actually made sense. In fact, credit where credit is due, Friedman has laid out precisely why the US should not be considering any kind of military action against Iran. Instead, he describes a foreign policy game involving finesse, diplomatic skill and development of dialogue with Iran that would set a precedence in US foreign relations.

The only problem is, the Bush administration is too stupid to understand it, too wrapped up in Saudi Arabia to try it and to absorbed in their military ambitions to see the value.

Friedman is spot on in his analysis of Iran and Saudi Arabia. And his view of the correct course of action is exactly what others have been saying in different ways for years.

That's the problem. Since he opposes the Bush administration's apparent sabre-rattling, he'll now be ignored. Watch the wankosphere go absolutely bananas now.

It's all at The Agonist.

H/T Dymaxion World